“Frankly, if we lose these midterm elections, it’s going to be a whole lot harder to finish what we started,” the first lady said, predicting “behavior that just wastes time and wastes taxpayer dollars.”

“We’ll just see more conflict and more obstruction, more lawsuits and talk about impeachment, more votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or even shut the government down,” she said.

The first lady went on to attribute opposition to her controversial school lunch program to partisan politics in Washington. House Republicans want to loosen restrictions requiring schools to serve meals with less sodium, whole grains, and reduced sugar and fat, saying the requirements are straining school budgets — and that children aren’t interested in eating the healthier meals.

“That’s really saying something,” Obama said. “I mean, for most folks in this country, making sure that our kids get decent nutrition isn’t all that controversial, because as parents, there is nothing we wouldn’t do for our kids -— nothing.”

The first lady went on to say that Democrats could help Georgia elect Senate candidate Michelle Nunn and gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter if they improved registration in districts favorable to the party by just 3 percent.

“If just 50 Democratic voters per precinct who didn’t vote in 2010 get out and vote this November -- just 50 per precinct -- then Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter will win,” Obama said. “Think about it.”

Nunn’s Republican opponent, businessman David Perdue, has looked repeatedly to tie the Democrat to President Obama, who remains unpopular in Georgia — a state he never won. Perdue’s campaign seized on the first lady’s appearance Monday to again make that point.

"While Michelle Nunn is trying to distance herself from President Obama and Washington Democrats publicly, she clearly has no problem raising money from them directly on the taxpayers' dime in order to deceive Georgians about her true allegiance to President Obama and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid," Perdue's spokeswoman, Megan Whittemore, told The Associated Press.